Just Gilly

  I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, but I defy anyone to have had a better time than a member of my family - Libby the Labrador!  It started a week or so ago when she discovered a gift of hers in our bedroom. A pack of 12 tennis balls! She knew it was obviously for her as she is the only one in the family that plays tennis! So they were wrapped and placed under the tree. An action that did not go unnoticed. On 23 Dec my in laws visited for a socially distanced al fresco lunch, and we exchanged gifts. They brought one for Libby and said that she could have it straight away. Well, she was super excited and carried this parcel all around everyone and the garden, tail wagging, proud as punch. After about 15 mins of showing everyone the lovely paper she decided to open it. So she threw it about, used her teeth and claws, and got the paper off. Oh my goodness - a stuffed gingerbread man with a bow tie and a squeak! Just what she always wanted. How did they know? Best present ev...

  As you may know I like to bake. I often post pictures of my successes. But what I don't generally discuss are my un-successes! This week I decided to make mince pie type things with the jar of mince meat hiding in the larder. So I defrosted some puff pastry (life is too short to make pastry). Then I realised the mince meat was best before 2016. I'm guessing this is no surprise to any of you. Now normally I get hubby to try all my doubtfuls as he's a super taster and I'm a rubbish taster! However he doesn't do mince meat (he gets very angry that it's even called mince meat when there is no meat in sight). So, as we were having al fresco cuppa with our neighbours I asked George's mum to taste it. And no, I didn't divulge the out-of-date-ness of it. I didn't want to prejudice her. Um, yeah, she pretty much spat it out! Oops. So then I had defrosted pastry with nothing to do with it. George's mum wasn't so put out, she offered to buy more mince...

  So we are all Christmas-fied here. All the trees and decorations are up. I love the fairy lights and have them anywhere I can manage. I also love decorating the tree in the living room. We have decorations from all over the world. Whenever we go away, a holiday abroad or a staycation I always try to buy something to hang. We have from Venice, San Fransisco, New York, Dubrovnik, Victoria, Finland, Jamaica I could keep going. The joy as we remember trips. Then their are the decorations made by the children. They often don't survive long but we still have a few from way back when they were small. And lastly all the decorations given to us over the years. The picture above shows a decoration from Disney World and was a gift from an old friend, given in 1991 (the date is on the back). We've lost touch over the years and I've no idea where she is, but it gets hung every year and every year I think about her. Memories are awesome. We've also started watching the Christmas mo...

  The Christmas tree isn't quite like it was last year! But give it a decade and it'll be better!  So yesterday I was shopping at m&s food. As I took my trolley back to the bay I noticed a ladies handbag hanging from a trolley already abandoned. So I took it into the store and after a wee while someone took it to customer services. As I was leaving I heard another lady say to the door person that she'd found a ladies handbag on a trolley - it was my handbag! So keen was I to rescue the handbag I actually left my own on the trolley. How very very embarrassing! Lol Unbelievably I have started to post and deliver my Christmas cards! Not only am I super quick but I'm also amazed. Normally it gets to Christmas Eve and I haven't written them, so don't bother, for another year! I'm so hopeless. No idea what happened this year. Of course with Christmas cards comes the round robin letter (not from me, but I do receive them). I decided to share my round robin, if ...